MOBILE, Alabama -- South Alabama converted 8-of-9 foul shots in the final 55 seconds to hold off a UAB rally and post a 55-47 college basketball victory Wednesday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars (3-2) had a 44-32 advantage with seven minutes remaining but the Blazers used a 9-3 run to pull within six points, 47-41, heading in the final minute of play.

Augustine Rubit answered with a pair of free throws to increase USA's lead to 49-41. UAB sliced the deficit to 49-45 on a Quincy Taylor layup and two shots by Ovie Soko with 22 seconds remaining.

Rubit pushed the margin back to six points with two more foul shots before Javier Carter sealed the victory with his seventh blocked shot of the night, swatting away Taylor's layup with 16 seconds showing.

"I thought our defense was really good," coach Ronnie Arrow said of USA's second straight win. "In today's game, you've got to have guys that will guard the hole for you like Javier it makes a big difference.

"I've been telling him for three years he ought to lead the nation in blocked shots. He had five against LSU and seven tonight, and there's no telling how many others he altered."

South Alabama finished the night with 11 blocked shots, one reason UAB made just 31 percent (18 of 57) from the floor.

"We're playing great team defense," said Xavier Roberson, who shared scoring honors with Rubit at 14 points. "It takes a load off us (guards) having those guys back there. We can be more aggressive (defensively)."

USA needed the solid defensive effort because the offense struggled. The Jaguars connected on 40 percent from the floor (18 of 45), but did hit their free throws (15 of 20).

"We did what we had to do to win tonight," said Arrow. "I didn't think we played particularly well on offense. We need to run our offense better. Our post men in the first half weren't finishing for us.

"I thought that we forced a couple of shots. When we ran our offense midway through the second half, we penetrated and nailed the open shots. That's what we wanted to do."

Guard Freddie Goldstein joined Roberson and Rubit in double figures with 11 points. Carter had 9 points and 5 rebounds. Rubit led USA with 10 rebounds, giving him his second double-double of the year.

Forward Cameron Moore was the only UAB player in double figures with 13 points. Soko had 8 points. The Blazers dropped to 1-5 with the loss.

"We had open shots," said UAB coach Mike Davis. "You look at the game and we had wide-open shots. It wasn't a situation where we took forced shots. They blocked some shots when we went inside. We had at least 15 wide-open looks that we didn't make. Once we make those shots we will get better as a basketball team."